Writing's on the Wall for the Chalkboard

California group trying to force school to become charter

(NEWSER) - Two dispatches from the education front, both speaking to underperforming students and angry parents:

• In Compton, California: Parents are trying to take advantage of a new state law to force their chronically awful school to be taken over by a charter operation. Advocates easily got the necessary 51% support of parents. The case is being closely watched because it essentially creates a "union for parents" to go up against teachers, explains the New York Times. It would be the first such action in the nation, and education chief Arne Duncan is in favor. Full story here .

City sets new Facebook rules

(NEWSER) - Facing growing controversy over teachers contacting students online, New York City is taking matters into its own hands: The city has created its first set of rules regarding how teachers should operate on Facebook and beyond. Teachers are forbidden from "friending" students on Facebook and following them on Twitter, NPR reports. They are, however, allowed to have professional Facebook pages that the kids can follow. More»

...said student is 18

(AP) - Arkansas 18-year-olds can now freely engage in sex with their teachers. The state's Supreme Court yesterday struck down the state's law banning sexual contact between teachers and students, finding that people 18 or older have a constitutional right to engage in a consensual sexual relationship. The court sided with 38-year-old David Paschal, an Elkins High School history and psychology teacher who admitted having a five-month consensual sexual relationship with an 18-year-old student. More»

Arne Duncan: Minorities suffer 'harsher discipline'

(NEWSER) - African-American students are arrested much more frequently than whites in America's large public schools, according to the government's largest-ever study of the subject. Among school systems with more than 50,000 students, 35% of arrests involved African-Americans, though they represent just 24% of the student body. White students represented 21% of arrests and 31% of the population, the Washington Post reports. Hispanic students accounted for 37% of arrests and 34% of enrollment. More»

Alabama's Shadrack McGill: But lawmakers should definitely get raises

(NEWSER) - Teacher pay shouldn't be increased, an Alabama lawmaker explained at a prayer breakfast this week, because the Bible says so. "If you double what you're paying education, you know what's going to happen?" asked state Sen. Shadrack McGill. "I've heard the comment many times, 'Well, the quality of education's going to go up.' That's never proven to happen, guys. It's a Biblical principle. If you double a teacher's pay scale, you'll attract people who aren't called to teach. And these teachers that are called to teach, regardless of the pay scale, they would teach. It's the ability that God give 'em." More»